Ptooey

The skinny man thought he was speaking quietly, never imagining that Qu Jianlei had heard every word clearly.

But after that, the two did not say anything else, so Qu Jianlei stopped circulating Inner Breath to his ears.

He did not particularly care about spending money to buy peace of mind.

It was a habit cultivated on Blue Star. From childhood to adulthood, he had never really lacked money.

After growing up, he earned even more through his own abilities, and gradually developed the habit of not caring about small sums.

No matter what others thought of him, as long as they got paid and did their job, that was enough.

Spend a little money and avoid worrying over too many trivial matters—wasn't that good? That night, he and the Hairless Freak... Xiao Jing slept in that shallow pit.

It was not that Qu Jianlei truly trusted the child.

In such an unfamiliar environment, if Xiao Jing dared harm him, he would not be able to escape even if he succeeded.

With the Hairless Freak's tiny frame, the others would absolutely chew him up without leaving even scraps.

He believed Xiao Jing had a clear enough understanding of that possibility.

The conditions in the shallow pit were poor, yet it was the most comfortable sleep they had had since setting out.

Near dawn, a light rain began to fall, but the cart blocked the pit overhead, so it did not affect either of them at all.

By the time they woke up, it was close to noon.

Qu Jianlei had originally wanted to dig the pit deeper and improve it into a proper shelter, but it had rained last night, so today was not suitable for construction.

Rain was rare in the Wasteland, and most of the rainwater that fell was toxic, so it was best not to start work.

Qu Jianlei put on his face covering again. That fellow called Lao Mo had already inspected him yesterday, so wearing it again should not be a problem.

He first went to the general store for a look and, surprisingly, found two more chunks of meat and some grain. He immediately bought them.

There was also a small repair shop here. He went inside and picked out some materials, intending to reinforce his ride later.

Then he discovered that this place actually let people post missions!

One mission caught his attention a little: collecting the salivary glands of Rot Hide Giant Lizards.

The reward was nothing special—two Silver Horns for each salivary gland—but what Qu Jianlei valued was that it lowered the cost of hunting giant lizards.

Still, there was no rush. He planned to stay here for a while, so he could take things slowly.

Right after that, he spotted another mission that had apparently been posted for a long time. Even the writing had faded somewhat.

It was a mission to repair a Mechanical Arm, and the reward was quite high: a minimum of twenty Silver Coins, with no upper limit.

He really wanted to try accepting it. Unfortunately, although the client did not restrict who could take it, it had to be notarized at the Settlement!

Qu Jianlei could only console himself: I haven't even seen a complete Mechanical Arm before.

Figuring out the whole thing would probably take quite a lot of time and money...

The camp was not large, so it did not take him long to finish looking around. Seeing that it was still early, he simply went outside the camp.

Three kilometers away, he performed two sets each of the Eight Section Brocade and Five Animals Play, then held a standing stance for an hour.

Then he sat cross-legged and began circulating the Nameless Qi Refining Art.

In fact, this was how he had spent his days on that dirt slope. He was rather obsessed with cultivation.

It was only at dusk that he leisurely returned to camp.

The moment he arrived, he saw a half-grown boy pinning down the Hairless Freak and beating him savagely.

He glanced at the shallow pit and saw that everything inside was still there, so he did not step forward to interfere.

He did not know what had happened between the two, and in the Wasteland, bigger people bullying smaller ones was hardly rare.

But the skinny man was standing nearby watching the show, so Qu Jianlei walked over and asked, "Lao Mo, you people don't deal with this kind of thing?"

"Is this kind of thing rare?" Lao Mo gave him a strange look. "Fights in camp are fine as long as nobody dies."

"As long as nobody dies?" Qu Jianlei repeated softly, then walked forward and sent out a flying kick.

With a dull bang, the half-grown boy flew five or six meters away before rolling several times.

Yet Wastelanders really were built differently. The boy sat up, shook his head, and actually stared back at him in astonishment.

He ground his teeth and snarled, "You... you dare hit me?"

It was obvious that this fellow was not one to suffer losses. He even looked as if he wanted to make a move against Qu Jianlei.

Qu Jianlei had both a long gun and a short gun hanging from his body, so naturally he did not care about the other boy. He merely snorted. "Only you are allowed to hit people?"

A vicious glint appeared in the half-grown boy's eyes. "He was trying to steal something!"

"You're lying!" The Hairless Freak sat up as well. "Black Sky Bro, he was trying to steal our things!"

There were quite a few supplies loaded onto the cart. When Qu Jianlei went out to train, he took only the most important small portion with him.

Most of the less valuable supplies remained in camp, with Xiao Jing guarding them.

The Hairless Freak's small body could not possibly stop a thief, so all he had to do was serve as a witness.

But there was still that unspoken rule: in camps out in the wild, most people did not welcome major ugly incidents.

The moment Qu Jianlei heard it, he knew the Hairless Freak was telling the truth and the half-grown boy was lying.

As soon as Xiao Jing spoke, the half-grown boy got up and ran, shouting loudly as he fled.

"Just you wait! The Iron Palm Gang won't let you off!"

Iron Palm Gang... A strange expression appeared on Qu Jianlei's face. He wondered if there was a Wudang Sect too.

Naturally, he would not bother arguing with a half-grown boy like that. As for gangs... he only needed to be a little careful.

Then he looked at the skinny man. "You can't kill people in this camp either, right?"

The skinny man nodded with a false smile. "Those are the rules."

Qu Jianlei nodded and said nothing more. He lifted his foot and kicked Xiao Jing in the backside. "Get up and tell me what happened."

There was really not much to say. The boy had originally intended to steal something, but after Xiao Jing caught him, he tried to snatch it by force.

Seeing things go bad, Xiao Jing shouted that someone was robbing them, only to get beaten badly.

It sounded a little unbelievable? But Qu Jianlei was not surprised at all. Similar things had happened at Luan Shi Camp.

Sweetwater Camp was twice as large as Luan Shi Camp, so even though he looked very hard to mess with, people still dared to make a move.

As long as the strong person was not present, the thief could steal the goods and run away. What could anyone do to him? Most people would simply watch him steal and pretend not to see it—stealing from locals was nothing unusual, much less from outsiders. But once Xiao Jing shouted "robbery," if the boy continued attacking, bystanders could no longer turn a blind eye.

It had nothing to do with standing up for justice. The reason was that a strong person stood behind Xiao Jing.

If that strong person decided to take his anger out on everyone else... when Wastelanders got violent, they did not care about anything.

So the half-grown boy could only vent his anger by beating Xiao Jing.

The situation was rather strange, but it did have its own logic.

Qu Jianlei's actions also followed the local rules: he had attacked that boy, but only kicked him once.

Even if he had drawn a little blood, it still would not have crossed the limit for an outdoor camp.

But Qu Jianlei had not yet learned the full story, nor did he know the other party's background, so he could not act too harshly.

Now that he knew about the so-called Iron Palm Gang, he still did not care much. Ordinary gangs would generally follow such rules too.

Seeing that night was approaching, Qu Jianlei began a fire and cooked.

This time, he made some meat and noodles, treating it as a reward for the journey.

Back on Blue Star, he could practically be called a gourmet, so there was no need to mention just how bitter these past six years had been.

Sadly, this gourmet did not know how to cook. At most, he could make instant noodles or fry an egg or something.

A gourmet only needed to know how to taste food. Cooking was a chef's business.

The Wasteland's seasonings were nothing impressive, so the stewed meat he made today tasted mediocre too. Barbecue? Don't be ridiculous!

It was not that he could not make it, but oil and fat were too precious. They had to go into his stomach, not drip onto charcoal to feed the flames.

The noodles were easier. The grain he had bought was powdery, somewhat like flour.

As for kneading dough... it was a little difficult, but not too hard. He only had to add water bit by bit.

Besides, water was precious in the Wasteland, so there was basically no chance of adding too much at once.

The conditions were too crude for hand-rolled noodles, knife-shaved noodles were difficult, and pulled noodles... he did not have that skill.

He chose cat ear noodles instead. Those were relatively easy; even if he had never made them, seeing someone else make them was enough.

The moment he lit the fire, it drew everyone's attention. Countless envious gazes turned toward him.

"They're eating meat..."

"And grain too!"

"It smells so good."

Qu Jianlei felt that his cooking was truly terrible, but... why did it smell so good? One little girl even burst into tears with a wail. "Mama, I want meat!"

With a sharp smack, a woman's voice spoke next. "Mama has meat on her. Want to eat it?"

Qu Jianlei took out an iron basin, ladled in a large serving of soup and food, and handed it to Xiao Jing. "Here!"

Xiao Jing froze in shock and could not help pointing at himself. "F-for me?"

Qu Jianlei was rewarding him for guarding their belongings today. Hearing that, he snorted. "If you don't want to eat it, pour it back."

"I'll eat, I'll eat!" Xiao Jing nodded frantically and pulled a plastic spoon from his bag.

There were nearly five jin of food and broth in Qu Jianlei's pot. He gave Xiao Jing a little over one jin.

Though the Hairless Freak was young, he was quite capable when it came to eating. He could handle that much.

And that little over one jin was not just meat and noodles. There was also some broth.

There were still nearly four jin left in the pot, and Qu Jianlei could finish it all himself. After all, he was still growing. Since beginning cultivation, his appetite had increased enormously. He could eat twice that much too.

Just then, Lao Mo strolled over. "Yo, smells good."

Xiao Jing glanced at him, then without hesitation spat into the iron basin. "Ptooey!"

That move did not really mean much in the Wasteland. If someone was starving badly enough, as long as it was not human flesh, what did a little filth matter? Qu Jianlei came from Blue Star and was rather particular about food, yet even drinking urine only required a sheet of Filter Paper.

The Hairless Freak's action was basically telling the other man: don't even think about taking a bite of my food!

Considering he had once been hungry enough to poison himself eating Purple Flower Lichen, his reaction was perfectly normal.

Qu Jianlei looked at him, then at Lao Mo. After staring blankly for a moment, he lowered his head and spat into the pot. "Ptooey!"

The corner of Lao Mo's mouth twitched. What the hell kind of people were these?!